Zumba Dance iPad Review

I love everything and anything to do with fitness, and the new craze “Zumba” is perfect for me. It doesn’t feel like exercise at all, just dancing and having fun, but as a game it was only available either on the Xbox,Wii, PS3, outside classes at the local leisure centre.

Now it can be taken everywhere with me on the iPad. It’s a bit like the Kinect fitness games but I think it works so much better on iPad, to be honest. First make your account by entering your name, height, weight and age. Next you have to set the iPad up so it is at the perfect angle (using a case for this is best). Then make sure the light is OK and you fit in the camera box on-screen. Make sure you have enough space around you as you will need it! Then pick what you want to do, either a single song, a full class where you can choose a long class, short class or custom playlist. If you have never tries Zumba before, you should head straight for ‘learn the steps’, which is the tutorial section.

There is also a fitness plan to help you plan how to do Zumba each day, and how long you want each session to last, and it will also tell you how many calories you are burning. You start the game off by choosing which section you like, then an animated woman is facing you, dancing professionally and in the bottom right hand corner there is a camera which picks up you copying the dancer. As you copy her moves you are awarded stars for each move, and at the end of the dance you get awarded a perfect or well done based on your overall performance.

There are so many sections of the classes you can choose, although there is one catch. You have to buy the song packs which for all songs is £17.49 or for separate, party, pulse-pounding and exhilarating classes, £6.99 for 14 tracks. I think to be honest this is little a bit steep as I would have brought all the tracks for maybe £9.99, considering the app was £2.99 is the first place.

Aside from these small price issues, this is a superb game, and one that can hopefully work as a proof of concept for further apps like this on iPad, as the game uses the camera and capabilities of the machine really well, and I have enjoyed my time with the game far more than I did with the similar versions for the big consoles.

If you are looking at using your iPad to keep you fit, then Zumba Dance is an essential purchase.